Matt Damon’s 2016 film Jason Bourne took a long time to happen, and while it performed well at the box office, the reviews had not been favorable. For a sequel as highly anticipated as this one, surely there’s something in it that at least made a lot of fans swoon.
Indeed, Damon finally did one thing in this film that he had been avoiding for the past couple of installments, and that was to display his ripped body. At the time, he felt it would be suitable to show off his build since it fits into the narrative.
Matt Damon avoided beefcake shots in the Bourne franchise
Jason Bourne is a direct sequel to 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum. Matt Damon refused to return in 2012’s The Bourne Legacy as director Paul Greengrass did not helm the movie. Upon returning for the fifth installment, Damon revealed in his interview with Yahoo that he finally agreed for his character to go shirtless:
We’d avoided [going shirtless] for the three other movies. We always actively said we don’t want to do the ‘beefcake shot’, but it felt right for this one because you want to see him like that, I think, to get a sense of what his life’s been like.
This decision had something to do more with the storyline than surprising the audience. Damon explained that they needed to make his character look and feel like he had been through a lot. If the famed agent looked like he’d been fine over the years, then there was no reason to make another film. “That shot is supposed to make that statement,” the 54-year-old star noted.
Moreover, getting in shape for that scene was tougher than the actor had imagined. He starred in 2002’s The Bourne Identity when he was only 29, and training back then was quite a piece of cake. Damon filmed the most recent installment in his 40s, and obviously, it was quite a challenge.
It took a lot of work to film the bare-knuckle fighting scene, and to accomplish that, he was on a strict diet and spent a lot of time in the gym.
Matt Damon never went shirtless unless there’s a reason
In the first Bourne movie, there was actually a scene where Damon’s character went shirtless, although it was framed in a certain way. During his conversation with Parade, he said that there’s a scene “where [Bourne’s lover] is pulling the shirt over my head, but what the camera sees are the two bullet holes in my back.” Obviously, that shot was not satisfying to look at. It told a story, and that’s the point of it.
Even with a rocking physique, Damon does not want to use it in his films without serving a real purpose. The actor himself is not fond of doing beefcake shots unless the script requires it.
Jason Bourne is currently available to watch on Peacock.
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